Please join us for IMC-2006 the 21st International Maintenance Conference December 5-8, 2006 in beautiful Daytona Beach Florida.

The team at the Reliabilityweb.com network has worked hard all year searching for the best case studies, workshops, short courses, simulations and subject matter expert presentations to create IMC-2006 – The 21st International Maintenance Conference.

We are confident that we have assembled the maintenance and reliability focused conference program of the year.

The International Maintenance Conference has traditionally broad topic areas and represents the current issues faced by maintenance and reliability professionals. We have designed this year’s program to include everything from enterprise reliability to change management to asset management to predictive maintenance.

Watch for full program details in the next Uptime Magazine issue. To get your own IMC-2006 brochure please call toll free (888) 575 1245 or…

Request a brochure online

A few weeks ago we published this tip

“A popular misconception about hydraulic cylinders is that if the piston seal is leaking, the cylinder can creep down. Fact is, if the piston seal is completely removed from a double-acting cylinder, the cylinder is completely filled with oil and the ports are plugged, the cylinder will hold its load indefinitely”.

Alan Wallace of Iron Ore Canada sent us the following feedback:

“The truth (IMHO) is that the piston seal is the only thing that causes no flow between the two sides of the piston (when the ports are closed) and hence holds the load in place. Without the piston and 0 flow past the piston seals the cylinder will creep.”

(Alan - we are sending you a Maintenance-Tips hat as a thank you for your feedback- Terry O)

See the authors reply and post your own reply here

Heard about PMOptimisation?

Perhaps you could ask yourself these questions before proceeding ...

Are you suffering more breakdowns than you should and does your PM program need more focus?

Are you caught in or approaching the Vicious Cycle of Reactive Maintenance?

Have you considered using RCM but been put off by the high cost and resources required?

Would you invest in a program providing the same results as RCM but at 20% of the resource cost and elapsed time?

Would you benefit from having a maintenance strategy that was fully documented and justified, could be easily changed in a controlled manner and fully involved the shop floor personnel by using their experience and knowledge?

Learn the basics of PM Optimization with Steve Turner, one of the pioneers of this widely used reliability strategy. PMO2000 is a PMO program designed to rationalize existing maintenance programs and develop a plan to eliminate or greatly reduce functional failures. The PMO2000 reliability concept was originally developed in Australia but is now spreading throughout industrial plants everywhere” This training session is just over 35 minutes.

Learn the basics of PM Optimisation

In 2005, direct cost for industrial and manufacturing maintenance in the United States was approximately $200 Billion. The indirect costs or all types of maintenance, from facilities to power plants and automotive to manufacturing, was approximately 20% of the annual GDP for the USA, which was ~$49 Trillion. This means that all costs, including lost opportunity, within the USA directly attributable to maintenance of all types, was just under $10 Trillion (published estimates range from $2 Trillion direct industrial and manufacturing up to $10 Trillion). This leaves a tremendous opportunity for business to act on an area that can generate huge opportunities for improvement. Yet present executive training does not include work on these opportunities.

The “Skilled Workforce in the 21st Century” study developed by ReliabilityWeb and SUCCESS by DESIGN reviews the history of the skilled workforce and how reliability and maintenance is impacted, explores the premises published within other domestic and international studies, the ReliabilityWeb workforce survey and conclusions on how to exploit the opportunities from both the R&M professional and management standpoints.

“The future holds great promise for knowledge workers in the field of maintenance and reliability. As the shortage of both high level and lower level skills becomes more pronounced, the competition to hire or contract with these knowledge workers will intensify. Companies that use cost to drive maintenance decisions rather than best practices will lose knowledge workers and will see costs skyrocket. Companies that attract knowledge workers and implement best practices will see increased profits through higher availability and increased output, lower scrap rates, higher quality product, and finally lower maintenance and labor and material costs.

Companies that hire and retain the right maintenance and reliability workforce, create an environment that empowers the knowledge worker, and leverage available technologies will reap the rewards. The companies that wait to read about the Reliability Revolution on the front pages of national and international news media will be far to late!” – “Skilled Workforce in the 21st Century” Study.

Download the Skilled Workforce in the 21st Century” Study

One of the most basic fundamentals that causes rework in my experience is very simple: Make sure the equipment is running!!!

I have gotten back in the office and downloaded the route only to find that the worse piece of equipment to get to was down when the readings were taken.

Reader Tip provided by Aubrey Green
International Paper

Thanks Aubrey - Your Maintenance Tips hat is on the way.

More Maintenance Tips

Rotor mass unbalance is one of the most common causes of excessive vibration levels in most rotating equipment. The primary symptom of rotor mass unbalance is a high 1X vibration level. Rotor mass variation leading to an unbalanced condition can be caused by a variety of factors including material build-up or fouling, wear, and thermal changes. Excessive amounts of rotor mass unbalance can have several detrimental effects on rotating equipment. The primary concern is the long-term fatigue-inducing beating forces incurred by running at elevated vibration levels. Excessive amounts of rotor mass unbalance can also amplify other vibration conditions, such as a loose bearing cap or instability in a foundation. By monitoring vibration levels and keeping rotating equipment in a well balanced condition, you can extend the operating life of your equipment and also increase the operating capacity and efficiency of your plant by keeping your valuable assets running.

Tip provided by:
LORD Corporation
http://www.lord.com
Tel: 1-877-ASK-LORD

Learn more about LORD Balancing products online

To minimize the risk of human error in conditions where someone is doing a task for the first time:

a. Have procedures in place which will provide guidance in how to perform the task properly (Rules)

b. Train the person in how to apply the procedure (Knowledge)

c. Ensure that the person demonstrates the application of their new training (Skill)

d. Hold periodic sessions where “what-if” scenarios are discussed

e. Identify conditions which are appropriate to start the task and alarm conditions in which should prevent the task from proceeding

Tip provided by Reliability Center Inc.
http://www.reliability.com

Human reliability

Taken from one of readers comments:

“Maintenance is the only organization in manufacturing that has a responsibility to the assets being used and the responsibility to ensure they will be usable tomorrow.”

Everyone in the organization has or MUST HAVE this responsibility.

I realize that maintenance department’s closer ,more frequent, contact with the assets make this feeling surface.

As a minimum all manufacturing departments must be on same level. Maintenance should not be part of (under) production and should an equal voice in decision making.

Joe Cannatelli
Con Edison
NYC NY

Leave it to a New Yorker to tell it like it is! Thanks Joe - Your Maintenance Tips hat is on the way!

Learn more about Asset Management